Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="Brian jojade" data-source="post: 82087" data-attributes="member: 211">Re: JBL SRX / QSC PL236 underpowered?Continuous power is what the speaker can handle with a constant signal level, ie pink noise sent to the speaker.&nbsp; Typical musical programming is not a continuous output.&nbsp; There are peaks in the output, but the average value ends up being less.&nbsp; Program rating is generally double the power of continuous.&nbsp; With an amp that big, playing regular music (i.e.,, not extremely compressed music) the speaker should be able to handle it just fine.&nbsp; Peak power, typically listed as double program power, is what a speaker can handle for a very short duration.&nbsp; For example, you drop a mic on the ground.&nbsp; It&#039;s going to send a lot more power for a brief second to reproduce that &#039;pop&#039;&nbsp;&nbsp; And keep in mind that this &#039;pop&#039; will drive your amp into hard clip, and the peak output is going to likely be higher than the rated RMS output. But chances are, unless you have insanely over powered the speakers, you&#039;ll be fine.As to why manufacturers put amps inside their powered speakers to match the continuous rating, the answer is quite simple.&nbsp; It&#039;s to idiot proof the box.&nbsp; With the amp rated at RMS of the speaker, any idiot can feed any signal into the box, and the chances of blowing the speaker up are minimal.&nbsp; If the amp was rated higher, yes, you could squeak a couple more dB out of the box, but then the idiot that decides to drive dubstep through the box at full tilt ends up blowing it up, and complains that the box is crap.As far as using a 4000 watt amp on a 1000 watt speaker, I&#039;d guess that would bring up your noise floor considerably.&nbsp; Maybe the rated THD on older amps was better when not driven so hard, but with today&#039;s amps, the quality is fine even when driven.&nbsp; The big problem with using a huge amp would be the risk of something going horribly wrong and a speaker blowing up.&nbsp; Blown speakers are pretty much always a user error thing.&nbsp; Only very experienced users should have amps rated higher than the speakers can handle. There will be no warning light to tell you that you&#039;re pushing the system too hard.&nbsp; Having amps rated at program power for speakers is good for most semi intelligent users.&nbsp; As long as you&#039;re playing dynamic music, you&#039;re going to be fine.&nbsp; And if you&#039;re setting up speakers for a DJ, NEVER give them an amp rated at more than continuous power to the speaker.&nbsp; Yes, even at continuous power rating, DJs can blow stuff up, but at least the warning light will have been on when it happened.Hmm, that just gave me an idea.&nbsp; I wonder how hard it would be to rig up a circuit that would monitor the clip light on an amp and allow me to show how often it went into clip, and for how long.&nbsp; That would be super handy on rental gear.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Brian jojade, post: 82087, member: 211"] Re: JBL SRX / QSC PL236 underpowered? Continuous power is what the speaker can handle with a constant signal level, ie pink noise sent to the speaker. Typical musical programming is not a continuous output. There are peaks in the output, but the average value ends up being less. Program rating is generally double the power of continuous. With an amp that big, playing regular music (i.e.,, not extremely compressed music) the speaker should be able to handle it just fine. Peak power, typically listed as double program power, is what a speaker can handle for a very short duration. For example, you drop a mic on the ground. It's going to send a lot more power for a brief second to reproduce that 'pop' And keep in mind that this 'pop' will drive your amp into hard clip, and the peak output is going to likely be higher than the rated RMS output. But chances are, unless you have insanely over powered the speakers, you'll be fine. As to why manufacturers put amps inside their powered speakers to match the continuous rating, the answer is quite simple. It's to idiot proof the box. With the amp rated at RMS of the speaker, any idiot can feed any signal into the box, and the chances of blowing the speaker up are minimal. If the amp was rated higher, yes, you could squeak a couple more dB out of the box, but then the idiot that decides to drive dubstep through the box at full tilt ends up blowing it up, and complains that the box is crap. As far as using a 4000 watt amp on a 1000 watt speaker, I'd guess that would bring up your noise floor considerably. Maybe the rated THD on older amps was better when not driven so hard, but with today's amps, the quality is fine even when driven. The big problem with using a huge amp would be the risk of something going horribly wrong and a speaker blowing up. Blown speakers are pretty much always a user error thing. Only very experienced users should have amps rated higher than the speakers can handle. There will be no warning light to tell you that you're pushing the system too hard. Having amps rated at program power for speakers is good for most semi intelligent users. As long as you're playing dynamic music, you're going to be fine. And if you're setting up speakers for a DJ, NEVER give them an amp rated at more than continuous power to the speaker. Yes, even at continuous power rating, DJs can blow stuff up, but at least the warning light will have been on when it happened. Hmm, that just gave me an idea. I wonder how hard it would be to rig up a circuit that would monitor the clip light on an amp and allow me to show how often it went into clip, and for how long. That would be super handy on rental gear. [/QUOTE]

Verification